


Drabble Collection: Helmet Party

by Oddport



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-05
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-04-30 03:36:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5148812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oddport/pseuds/Oddport
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabbles featuring everyone's favorite hard headed duo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. At Ease

There was nothing Soldier loved more than the thrill of battle. RED was making their final push on the control point and he was seeing plenty of BLU backsides that just made him the happiest man on god’s green earth. Angling his launcher down, he let loose a rocket and sent himself upwards to the battlements, manic laughter completely drowned out by the explosions and gunfire all around him.

Below he heard the sound of a minigun spinning up, the bellowing laughter of Heavy with an Ubercharge paralleling his own path on the level below. Damned if that Commie sonova bitch wasn’t occasionally good for something. 

As he turned the corner on the walkway he could see Heavy and Medic barrelling down the corridor like a comet in a mad dash to make it to the control point before the ÜberCharge ran out. A rocket launcher from the front, a minigun from behind and the Demoman on the point was going to be taking one for Queen and country.

Jumping down from the upper level, Soldier hit the ground running.

And that was the last thing he remembered.

The white lights of respawn hurt his eyes.

Soldier winced as he sat up and held his helmet as if it were the only thing keeping his brain from leaking out of his head. He heard the sound of the resupply cabinet being closed and a pair of heavy boots walking over.

“Damn, son.” Engineer knelt down next to him. “Musta been some trap that Demo set. I heard it clear across here.” The Texan tipped up Soldier’s helmet, pulling his own goggles up and over the rim of his hard hat so that their eyes could meet. “You okay, Jane?

The last few words were whispered as he bent close, keeping just far enough away so that anyone coming through would only see one teammate helping another to his feet. Soldier grunted a response and staggered to his feet, leaning into Engineer ever so slightly longer than he absolutely needed to.

Five minutes left in the mission!

Soldier looked up at the intercom and growled.

“Damn BLU skirt-wearing…”

Muttering under his breath, Soldier shook himself away from Engineer, grabbed his rocket launcher and rushed out the door, leaving Engineer standing in respawn. 

Engineer sat cross-legged on his bed, covers pulled up over his lap with his notepad filled with the sketches and diagrams with equations scribbled in the margins. 

“Del?”

He looked up and saw the door to his bedroom ajar. The way it swung into the room meant that he couldn’t see who was there, but there was no mistaking the tentative voice from the other side.

“Come on in, Jane.”

Soldier quietly slipped in and shut the door behind him. His helmet rested low over his eyes and Engineer could sense the nerves spilling off the man. It was always like this at first. For someone homicidally fearless on the field, any time it was the two of them he reminded Engineer of a skittish colt.

Dying, as they said, was easy. Getting under the lid of one Jane Doe was hard.

Patting the bed beside him, Engineer scooted over and made room as Soldier gingerly slid under the covers. The larger man settled in, laying his head down on the pillow and wrapping his arm around Engineer’s waist. 

“Del?”

“Hmmm?” Engineer lifted the helmet from Soldier’s head and hug it on the bedpost. 

“Sorry ‘bout running off today.”

“Nothin’ to apologize for. That’s your job.” 

Soldier looked up at him and Engineer felt the remaining tension ease out with those words of reassurance that was now familiar routine. Setting his notebook on the bedside table, Engineer turned off the light and settled himself down, raising his arm to let Soldier slip in and rest his head against his chest.

“Night, Del.”

“Goodnight, Jane.”


	2. The Long Ride Home

Engineer sighed and leaned back against the wall of the truck. He felt the rumble of the road as Heavy barreled the vehicle down the lonely stretch of New Mexican highway on the way back to base. Up in the cab he heard Scout chattering away, probably trying screw up the courage to flip on the radio and talk to Miss Pauling.

He looked across the truck and saw Sniper with a thousand yard stare that meant that the Aussie was a million miles away. Demo was laid out on the floor, having taken a particularly nasty fall during the raid after sticky-bomb jumping, with Pyro sitting at his feet, occasionally giving the man a poke as if to check that they were still alive. Medic rested in the corner nearest the front of the truck and would every so often poke his head through the curtain to say a few words to Heavy. Spy was seated at the back, the man’s long legs stretched across to rest his heels on the bench on the other side. Soldier sat next to him, arms across his chest as he sat in uncharacteristic silence, helmet drawn down and covering his eyes.

It had been a long day. Up before dawn, the team had piled out to make a raid on BLU at their new base in Dustbowl. The fight had been long and hard, but they had eventually pushed their way in and came out with the intelligence in hand.

Just in time for the long ride home.

Every bone in body ached and Engineer found himself wanting a hot shower and a soft bed. But given that they were heading back to 2Fort, he was going to have to settle for a lukewarm rinse down and a Mann Co. issued cot. The thought crossed his mind after every fight these days that maybe he was starting to get too old for this job. It boggled his mind how Soldier and Demo could still right in the thick of things. Of course, looking down at the Scotsman, maybe similar thoughts were running through his mind, too.

A bump in the road jostled the weary mercenaries, and Engineer heard a grunt from Soldier. The man’s arms dropped to his lap as his head nodded, chin drooping to rest on his chest. Engineer’s eyes lingered on the broad shoulders and wished that he could lean up against them, to share the weariness of a long day.

He dropped his head back against the truck’s wall, thankful for the thin layer of padding at its back. As he stared up at the ceiling, this thoughts drifted back to how he had woken up that morning, his head pillowed in the crook of Soldier’s arm. It had been nice, but the man was gun shy when the others were around. Had it in his fool head that affection on the field equaled weakness or some such nonsense.

The truck continued rolling across the desert, Engineer’s back feeling more sore with every passing moment.

He stiffened as he felt something snaking around his waist, a warm hand slipping between the bib of his overalls and the loose fabric of his shirt to pull him closer.

He barely heard the words over the sound of the engine. 

“C’mere, grease monkey.”

Engineer smiled and let himself lean in, closing his eyes and pretending to sleep.


End file.
